24th January - Emsworth to Nutbourne, Chichester Harbour

Today was my birthday and we had taken the opportunity to have a weekend away, staying just outside of Emsworth on the border of Hampshire and West Sussex.  The one time I have been to Emsworth was December 2024, then for a Black-throated Diver on the Mill Pond.  Nothing like that around today, but we were off on a walk and to be honest I had no idea where we were going.

From the hotel we walked down Beach Road toward the water front, this being on the edge of Chichester Harbour.  The skies were blue, but with a very strong south easterly wind it felt cold.  There was a threat of rain later in the day so we were hopeful we could have a good walk before it arrived.  The tide though was low, with it just being low tide an hour ago.

A black and white view, looking east towards Thorney Island and West Sussex.

There is a path around the Mill Pond, but it was very blowy and exposed.  Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank were feeding in the channels and at the Mill there was a Black Swan amongst the Mutes.

We walked through the centre of Emsworth and eventually found the path around the Slipper Pond that took us through the marina and out on tt the sea wall that leads towards Thorney Island.  I was here just before Christmas, then it was also sunny, but cold and still, today the reeds were blowing.  Back in December I had great views of Bearded Tit, today I heard a few pings from the reeds but didn't see anything.

We walked on the lower path out of the wind.  It was very quiet.  At the Great Deeps there were plenty of Coot on the water, Teal, Wigeon and Black-tailed Godwits.  Looking up the channel there were two Greenshank roosting on the shore.

We had no intention of walking around Thorney, so turned back, this time on the higher path.  With the tide rising the waders were pushed closer.  There were a few Dunlin feeding on the mud

Out on the sea a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers bobbed on the choppy water.

There was the constant calls of Brent Geese out in the harbour and every so often there would be groups flying over the sea wall and towards the fields of Thorney Island.

 I watched this Oystercatcher chiselling away at something under the water.

Wigeon flying out towards the harbour.

We decided to walk across Thorney Island to pick up the Coastal path as it made its way around the sea wall.  Walking the footpath towards the coastal path a Green Woodpecker was flushed from the field alongside the path.  We headed east with the tide rising.  The sun was still with us, if a little watery now and cloud building up to the west.

A stream or rife as it is known in this area ran on the other side of the path and there was a feel of the same area at the North Wall at Pagham.  In the fields behind the Rife there were pools of water in the field and there were Curlews feeding and taking the opportunity to bathe in the freshwater.

The largest wader in the UK, they have an elegance about them.

A feeding group.

As well as the Curlew there was also a pair of Oystercatchers in the field, but they soon departed.

It was the case of checking the map and the weather, by turning north and heading towards the old A27 we had the option of a bus should the weather turn against us.  But while all was well we kept going passing the village of Southbourne and walking towards Nutbourne.  There was a footpath that turns north at a small bay.  We paused here as there was a selection of duck and few waders on the water and mud.  A pair of Wigeon close in.

There was a few Redshank and a single Black-tailed Godwit, but of greater interest was a pair of Pintail preening on one of the banks.

The footpath that led to Nutbourne followed a stream that had flooded the field.  There were a lot of Teal, mainly drakes who were trying to attract the attention of the few ducks with their whistles and head bobbing.

As we came up onto the main road we were delighted to find a cafe on the corner.  It turned out to be a really nice place.  From the cafe we decided to walk the main road west back towards Emsworth.  This was the bus route so we had the option to get the bus should we need to.  We kept going and made it all the way to Emsworth.  As we walked into the village centre I noticed this sign outside and old car garage.  This seemed to hark back to the sixties by the look of the decor, but it was the sign for National outside.  National was a petrol station I remembered from back in the seventies.  I had worked at one in my home village of Kennington just outside Oxford.  An iconic signage

I had to find out what happened to National so spent sometime when I got home researching them.

National was a petroleum brand used in the United Kingdom from 1919 to the 1990s. In 1957, the National Benzole Co. became wholly owned by Shell-Mex & BP (through British Petroleum) but continued its separate trading identity. In the early 1960s, National Benzole was re-branded as National and continued trading as a UK retailer of petroleum products until the early 1990s, when the brand was phased out by parent company, BP.

To sustain the success, an imaginative advertising campaign was developed, and in 1928, Mr Mercury – startlingly naked – leapt for the first time from the pages of the national newspapers.

Mr. Mercury, in National Benzole's black and chrome gold corporate colours, became one of the most powerful marketing images of this age. Almost every service station in the 1930s had a National Benzole pump, for single-brand sites were unknown in those days. Eventually, Mr. Mercury's head was used as the brand's logo. At the outbreak of the Second World War, all petrol brands gave way to pool petrol.

Mr. Mercury returned in 1953, now more modestly attired in the advertisements, though he retained his winged helmet, and National Benzole quickly re-established itself as a market leader.  

In 1959 Mr. Mercury's black and chrome gave way to a sparkling new yellow, blue and white sign which is what I was looking at today and remembering from the past.

We made our way back to the hotel still not needing to take the bus.  It was an interesting day, a lovely walk where the rain stayed away and despite the strong wind thoroughly enjoyable.  Then the opportunity to reminisce about old petrol brands before dinner and drinks to celebrate another year ticked off 

2nd January - Hayling Island Oyster Beds and Southmoor, Hampshire

The first outing of the year was under threat the day before with a yellow warning of snow, but waking up early there wasn't any snow or any sign of any coming.  So all was good and I met Ian at the car park just after the Langstone bridge at Hayling.

To start we walked back to the bridge to view the water to the east of the bridge.  We were looking for a Long-tailed Duck, but there wasn't any sign of it.  What we did find was a distant Great Northern Diver and a flock of 59 Avocet flying around the water, probably looking for somewhere to settle, but in the end dropping on to the water.

We walked around to the Oyster Beds where the tide was covering most of the bunds, leaving very little dry land for the wader roost.  A Curlew was close to us on one of the islands.  It was ringed with colour rings and a tag with the letters "K&N".  This is being investigated and it will be interesting to see where the Curlew was ringed.

Information has now been received on Curlew KN:

The curlew was released as part of a re-introduction project in Southern England. Eggs are being taken from ‘at-risk’ nests within stable populations in Northern England, then incubated, hatched and reared in captivity. The young birds are released at three sites in the south: Cranborne in Dorset, Peppering in West Sussex, and Elmley in Kent. The project has been running since 2022. We GPS tag half of the released curlew, so that we can record their movements post-release and monitor their survival.

KN was released at Peppering on 23rd July, 2025.  As this curlew is not tagged, re-sightings are the only means of understanding this bird’s movements since release. Also, getting photos is a really useful way of confirming the birds are healthy and in a good condition.

This curlew has been seen 16 times since release, almost all of which have been at Hayling Island:

More details on the project are given here: https://www.birdguides.com/news/headstarted-curlews-released-in-sussex/

Walking around to the westerly beds the sky was full of waders wheeling around high up looking for some dry refuges.

The rocks around the edge of one bund was a big attraction to the Dunlin, Grey Plover and Knot.

Grey Plover flying in.

Then a surprise, Bar-tailed Godwits, a total of sixteen counted.

The birds couldn't settle and as fast as they flew in they would wheel out again over the water in a cloud of birds.

The slow return to the rocks.

Then a blizzard of Dunling flying out low over the water, an incredible sight.

The Bar-tailed Godwits coming back to the roost.

High tide was around 10:30 and as we reached that time the birds seemed to settle.  The large groups flying out low over the water suddenly stopped and a peace came over the Oyster beds.  Quite amazing really, the birds seemingly knowing the water would now start to recede and the search for dry land would become easier.

We walked around to the main lagoon area where there were Red-breasted Mergansers.  One drake quite close in.

Love this shot, a close up behind the wave.

Aware of us and moving away.

Moving around to the main lagoon, there was another pair close to the path.  This a female red head.

A Kingfisher zipped low across the water and then the drake merganser appeared, love the spikey hair do.

It started preening, here you can see the "saw teeth" on the bill that help with catching fish.

And some interesting positions.

This male was a little further around the lagoon.

Scanning the harbour there wasn't any sign of the reported Scaup, or any grebes other than Great Crested and Little.  So we decided to walk back.  

There were several Rock Pipits along the shore line of the lagoons.

The waders were now all quiet, taking in the time to rest.  A scan of the islands found one Whimbrel.

We spent some time at Northney Marina scanning the water.  We found the Avocet once again and out on the water amongst the sea grass were Wigeon, Shelduck, Teal and Pintail.  However not what we were hoping for, so we decided to try our luck from Southmoor.

It was interesting to see the area and how it has developed as the breach has been left allowing the sea to flow in and create quite a few saltmarsh pools.

Several Redshanks around the saltmarsh and in amongst them a couple of Greenshank

The Pintail on the open water looked a little spooked, so I watched them closely, necks extended is alway an indication of them taking off.

Which is what they did!

A few laps of the saltmarsh.

And then out to the harbour.

With the tide falling, the water was draining out of the saltmarsh, the water flowing through the breach.  The waterfalls created looked quite spectacular and if you didn't know this was Southmoor you might be fooled into thinking these were the waterfalls found in countries like Iceland!

There had been Skylark and Meadow Pipits amongst the grass plus a small flock of Linnet.

We scanned the open water where there were at least eight Goldeneye males.  A couple of Little Grebes had us hoping that maybe we had found something better.  Along teh shoreline were Brent Geese and plenty of Redshank and Curlew.  The sun was now dropping in the sky creating some spectacular clouds over Portsmouth.

We walked to the outflow, but couldn't find any special gulls.  On the foreshore there were more Curlew, a pair of Shoveler and quite a few Wigeon.

With the sun falling the temperature was dropping quickly.  We had missed out on the special grebes and duck, but in all it was a great day and good start to the year.